THINK TOGETHER
What is one way you are different from God? What is one way you are the same as God?
READ TOGETHER
One of the most important things we can learn as we grow up is where we belong in the world. What is our place in the world as humans? Why did God create us?
We can find answers to this question by going back and reading Genesis 1-2 again. And we can read Psalm 8, which reminds us of who we are and why God made us. Listen to King David’s psalm. What questions does he ask about us? And what are the answers?
Psalm 8:1-6. O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
Now, before we get to the questions and answers about humans, notice that David started with God. How does David describe God in verse 1? (majestic, glorious – notice that the two “Lords” are two different words. O Yawhweh our adonai. Or master)
OK, now we’re ready to think about ourselves.
In verse 4 David wonders out loud why God would even pay any attention to us – what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? It’s important to start out by remembering that compared to God we are tiny and weak and insignificant. We are little specks in a great big universe.
But God doesn’t want us to only see ourselves as tiny little specks. And so David continues to describe us in verse 5 – Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
And so now we learn where we belong in creation. Here is the order:
- God
- Us
- The rest of creation
We aren’t God, and we aren’t animals. We are in between God and animals. We are special and unique. We are crowned by God as rulers of this earth. We work FOR God as his servants taking care of creation and each other. God created us in his image. We are a picture of him. God made us out of his love and goodness to look like his love and goodness.
David says that God is “mindful” of us – he thinks about you all the time.
And God “cares” for us – he loves us so much and only does what is best for us.
Everything in Psalm 8 is good news. Now we know where we belong. We aren’t meant to be God and yet we are meant to worship and serve God.
But wait. What about our sin? None of us is worshiping and serving God the way God created us to. None of us is living like Psalm 8 says we should.
That’s true, which is why we needed Jesus to come and be the true Psalm 8 man. Jesus, who is God, became a man. He allowed himself to be made “a little lower than the heavenly beings.” And because of his great humility, and his great love, God “crowned him with glory and honor.” Because Jesus came to die for us, as one of us, God put Jesus on the throne of heaven forever. Now a human truly does rule the universe as God’s image, just like God always wanted. And now we too can be all that God ever wanted us to be, his loving servants, because we have Jesus, the Psalm 8 man, in our hearts.
Because of Jesus we are crowned with God’s glory and honor.
With Jesus we can take care of the earth and each other.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Psalm 8 says that we have “dominion over the works of God’s hands.” We have authority over creation. If you have a pet or a plant in your house, take some time to care for it together, explaining to your children that this isn’t just a chore. It is image bearing. It is doing what God created us to do and what Jesus saved us to do.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus,
You deserve all the glory and honor. Thank you for dying for my sins and for allowing me to help you take care of others.
Amen.
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